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"Crazy Leo" Urlichich
Urlichich at the 2012 Rallye Perce-Neige
Personal information
NationalityRussian / Canadian
Born (1985-02-02) 2 February 1985 (age 39)
Moscow
World Rally Championship record
Active years2014, 2021
Rallies6
Championships0
Rally wins0
Podiums0
Stage wins0
Total points0
First rally2014 Rally de Portugal
Last rally2021 Acropolis Rally

Leonid "Crazy Leo" Urlichich (born 2 February 1985 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian-Canadian rally driver currently competing in the Canadian and the US national championships. He drives for a Toronto-based team Can-Jam Motorsports and has expressed ambitions to compete in the World Rally Championship.[1][2]

Urlichich is notable for winning the second gravel rally he has ever finished.[3]

Career

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Early career

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At the age of 17 Urlichich enrolled in Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, where he pursued a Business Administration degree. He first drove competitively while at university, at the local rally cross events in his daily-driven Subaru WRX STi.[4]

2007 marked his first performance rally, Rallye Perce-Neige Maniwaki, held in Quebec.[5]

2008-2010

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2008 Black Bear rally earned Urlichich his first ever performance rally victory. Urlichich and co-driver Dave Shindle won the event after setting the fastest times on all but the last stage against more experienced Peter Thomson and Andrew Comrie-Picard.[6]

The 2010 season was Urlichich's full season in the Canadian Rally Championship. Rally Baie-des-Chaleurs delivered his first national podium, as he finished second.[7] Urlichich finished fifth overall in the 2010 Canadian Rally Championship.[8]

2011

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2011 season saw Urlichich team up with an Irish co-driver Martin Brady. The team has competed in eight events across Canada. Urlichich lost Rallye de Charlevoix to Antoine L'Estage and John Buffum (who was co-driving at this event) by one second.[9] At the end of the season Urlichich and Brady won Rally of the Tall Pines and finished second in the Championship.[10][11] David Higgins, who finished second in the event noted that the rally was one of the most difficult in his career due to the nature of stages.[12]

2012

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2012 was Urlichich's inaugural season in the Rally American championship in the United States. Partnered with an experienced Welsh co-driver Carl Williamson, Urlichich has won a stage at the debut Sno*Drift rally and finished the event third, later to be penalized to sixth place due to the substrate of the catalytic converter missing.[13][14] At the second rally of the year Urlichich crashed heavily into a telegraph pole, but despite serious damage to his car, he was able to finish second overall. The video of the accident went viral on YouTube getting over 1.4 million views.[15][16]

Urlichich and Williamson finished second in the Canadian Championship, second in the North American Rally Cup, and fifth in the Rally America National Championship.[17][18]

2013

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Urlichich was absent from full-time competition in 2013, spending time in Europe working on a program to compete in one of the Support Categories of the World Rally Championship in 2014.[19]

2014

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Debut season in the WRC, in the high profile ‘Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy’.

2016

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Champion, Class Four, MLRC Rallycross Championship

2017

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Canadian Rally Champion (P4WD)

2018

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1st P4WD, Rallye Perce-Neige

2019

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Canadian Rally Champion (P4WD)

1st P4WD, Rallye Perce-Neige

1st Overall, Rally of the Tall Pines [20]

Co-drivers and pacenotes

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Over the years Urlichich has competed with nine different co-drivers, including a Welsh co-driver Carl Williamson, who has co-driven for Jari-Matti Latvala in the Stobart Ford World Rally Team.[21]

Urlichich has claimed on multiple occasions that he recognizes the importance of Pacenotes in modern rallying. According to Williamson, Urlichich has developed a "rather unique Pacenote system", which was designed from scratch and uses some Finnish words.[22]

Personality and social media

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Urlichich is known for his passion about rallying and his quirky behavior that shows through his interviews. His public persona matches his personality, which has gained Urlichich a sizeable social media following, larger than that of any other rally driver in North America, except Ken Block and Travis Pastrana.[23][24]

Other disciplines

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On July 22 and 23, 2011 Urlichich competed in the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship race at the legendary Mosport International Raceway, where he struggled and had to use his skills of driving on dirt during his off track excursions.[25]

Career results

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WRC results

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Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 WDC Pts
2014 Leonid Urlichich Ford Fiesta R2 MON SWE MEX POR
55 		ARG ITA POL
Ret 		FIN
Ret 		GER
Ret 		AUS FRA ESP
50 		GBR NC 0
2021 Saintéloc Junior Team Citroën C3 R5 MON ARC CRO POR ITA KEN EST BEL GRE
20 		FIN ESP MNZ NC 0

Drive DMACK Cup results

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Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 Pos. Points
2014 Leonid Urlichich Ford Fiesta R2 POR
8 		POL
Ret 		FIN
Ret 		GER
Ret 		ESP
9 		10th 6

References

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  1. ^ ""CRAZY" LEO URLICHICH". Yokohama Canada. Archived from the original on 2014-06-24. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  2. ^ "'Crazy Leo' tackles the Tall Pines". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2011-11-29. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  3. ^ "2008 Black Bear Rally General Results". Maple Leaf Rally Club. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
  4. ^ "2006 Rallycross Championship Standings" (PDF). Maple Leaf Rally Club. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  5. ^ "Rallye Perce Neige 2007, General Results". RallyScoring.com. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  6. ^ "All stages in detail using FIA progressive results type, 2008 Black Bear Rally". Maple Leaf Rally Club. Archived from the original on 2016-11-29. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  7. ^ "Richard wins Baie after final stage drama". Flat Over Crest. Archived from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  8. ^ "2010 Canadian Rally Championship, Final Point Standings". Rally Racing News. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  9. ^ "2011 Rallye de Charlevoix 2011 General Results". Rally Scoring. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
  10. ^ "Crazy Leo Captures Tall Pines Rally Victory!". Autoblog Canada. Archived from the original on 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  11. ^ "CRC Standings 2011 Final". Canadian Association of Rallysport. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  12. ^ "Higgins / Subaru Rally Team USA Finish 2nd at Tall Pines Rally". Race-Dezert.com. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
  13. ^ "2012 Sno*Drift Rally Results, Stage 12 - Fishlab Again". Rally America. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2012-04-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  14. ^ "Travis Hanson Podiums at Sno*Drift Rally, Beats Deep Super Production Field". Rally America. Archived from the original on June 21, 2013. Retrieved 2012-04-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. ^ "Rally car slams into pole, continues on to finish second". Autoblog. Retrieved 2012-04-17.
  16. ^ "Crazy Leo Turns One Million". Flat Over Crest. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-04-17.
  17. ^ "2012 CRC Standings 2012 Final, 2012 NARC Standings". Canadian Association of Rallysport. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  18. ^ "2012 Overall Championship Standings". Rally America. Archived from the original on 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  19. ^ "Rally: "Crazy" Leo Urlichich working on WRC program". Auto123.com. 9 September 2013. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  20. ^ "Crazy Leo and co-driver Nikolaeva win Rally of the Tall Pines". CarsRally. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  21. ^ "Miikka Anttila, co-driver". JMLatvala.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-13. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  22. ^ "Crazy Leo's passion". Inside Track magazine, July 2012 issue. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  23. ^ "Crazy Leo: Living The Dream". Stance is Everything. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
  24. ^ "Rally star Crazy Leo revs up social media presence to attract fans". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2012-08-03.
  25. ^ "Crazy Leo can't stay away from the dirt, even at Mosport". The Garage Blog. Archived from the original on 2012-10-20. Retrieved 2012-09-15.

Further reading

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